CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Bob Sura scored 13 of his 22 points in the
first quarter as the Cleveland Cavaliers settled matters early,
coasting to a 115-88 rout of the Boston Celtics.

Sura connected on 5-of-6 shots in the opening period, including
a 3-pointer with 4:33 left that gave the Cavaliers a 19-8 lead.

Sura also handed out a season-high 10 assists for Cleveland,
which used a 23-6 run to take a 30-17 lead after 12 minutes and
never was seriously challenged thereafter by the sluggish
Celtics.

Lamond Murray scored 20 points and Shawn Kemp added 16 for the
Cavaliers (11-9), who have averaged 121 points in back-to-back
wins after dropping three of their previous four games.

"One of our best performances of the year. Three players with
10, nine and eight assists is not seen often," Cleveland coach
Randy Wittman said. "Bobby Sura, Brevin Knight and Andre Miller
made things happen."

"No letdowns throughout the game and we kept things going,"
Murray added. "When we put two halves together, we know when we
come out in the third quarter, if we have a lead, we want to
keep pressing up on that lead."

Tony Battie and rookie Adrian Griffin scored 16 points each for
the Celtics (10-10), who suffered their worst loss of the season
and second straight setback since leading scorer Paul Pierce
went down with a sprained left ankle. Boston's previous worst
loss was a 121-98 drubbing against the defending world champion
San Antonio Spurs on November 24.

"It was a bad game for us," Boston coach Rick Pitino said. "We
can't really concern ourselves too much with it. We just have
to get on with tomorrow (against Utah). I was worried about
this one."

Eric Williams scored 13 points and Calbert Cheaney added 11 for
Boston, which shot 41 percent (33-of-80), including 5-of-19 from
3-point range. Desperate to get back into the game in the third
quarter, the Celtics launched 16 shots from beyond the arc,
making just four.

Wesley Person scored 15 points off the bench and Mark Bryant
added 11 for Cleveland, which shot 53 percent (43-of-81) and
held a 43-32 advantage on the boards. The Cavs scored 21 points
off 16 turnovers and drained half their 12 3-pointers.

Sura made 8-of-14 shots and 4-of-4 free throws to lead Cleveland
in scoring for the second time in four games. He scored a
season-high 29 points in a 107-93 win over Chicago on December 8
and seemed capable of eclipsing that total in the early going
tonight.

"It's been quite a run so far," Sura said. "We needed to
establish ourselves here in the last couple of weeks, playing a
lot of Eastern Conference teams. We have to go get another game
tomorrow night."

The 6-5 guard scored the Cavs first four points on a driving
layup and a slam before hitting a pair of free throws and two
more layups to give Cleveland a 14-6 lead with 7:01 remaining in
the first quarter. Sura took his first breather of the night
with 3:30 left and his team holding a 21-10 lead.

"We played really well," he added. "We knew this was a game
that we should win."

The Cavs came out hot in the second period with consecutive
baskets by Bryant and Ryan Stack before Person hit a 3-pointer
to open a 37-17 cushion with 10:37 remaining in the first half.

Boston fought back within 51-41 at the half but Murray scored
nine points in the third quarter to build Cleveland's lead to
81-65 entering the fourth period.